Holy Mosque of Mecca - Essay Example

It is covered with silk. Pilgrims must, as their first duty, walk or run around the Ka’ba seven times murmuring prayers. It can be seen in the courtyard a particular well in which pious Mohammed is said to have dipped linen that is later made into shrouds. The hill of Arafat is hold with greatest reverence by pilgrims. It lies about thirteen miles east of Mecca. All those who make the pilgrimage to the Holy City go to Arafat. They travel on foot, donkeys, horses, and camels. Some caravans have two kinds of camels: one is for carrying baggage and other provisions, while the other bears the name “shugdufs” and is decorated with tents of carpets and curtains which protect the riders from the sun.

Millions of Moslems flock to Mecca, just like centuries ago, beginning the month of December. During the Haj, streets are crowded as people continually come in filling the Haram mosque like a balloon growing larger up to its bursting point. With the growing number of followers and the increasing architectural and engineering possibilities, The Great Mosque of al-Haram is still on the path of restructuring and redesigning until today without losing its commodity, firmness, and delight – the elements of architecture.

However, although great Moslem populations are open to constructions and renovations, the believers strictly adhere to their belief and strong Islamic culture and the 21st century architecture and methods of construction being implemented on the Great Mosque of al-Haram clearly threatens Islamic culture and belief. Architecture is known by many not only as a course in tertiary education and a profession that brings a promising career but an art of building. As Sir Henry Wotton said in The Elements of Architecture, published posthumously in 1651, it must possess “commodity, firmness, and delight;” in